PLUS

Isaiah 30:21 “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.”

Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”

Hebrews 12:1-2 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

I had a scary experience during my driver’s ed training. In my small town in Washington State, the high school had a program for budding drivers and I did mine over the summertime. The course consisted of in-class instruction and then randomly chosen groups that would go out practice-driving together with an instructor. I was paired with three girls: Pam, Patti, and Stacey.

Practice driving is already an elevated risk activity, and being trapped in a car that is being driven by another student driver exacerbates the concern. There was an additional element of the process that made it even more nerve-racking – the three other members of my group weren’t confident that they knew their left from their right.

As a result, before each driving session, all three girls used a Sharpie to write a big L on their left hand and a big R on their right hand. That way, when the instructor told them to turn left or right at the next intersection, they could look at their hands (which should be somewhere close to the 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock positions on the steering wheel) and know which way to turn. The entire endeavor was an interesting experience, but I suppose at least those girls understood the importance of going in the proper direction.

For all of us in life, it is critically important that we are going in the proper direction!

God is constantly directing us to follow the correct path and go in the proper way. We are to seek Him first and keep our gaze firmly fixed on Him. When we do, we will know our right from our left and the wise way to go.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO BE CONSTANTLY SENSITIVE TO GOD’S GUIDANCE IN OUR LIVES. We must remain headed in the proper direction.

Deuteronomy 2:7 “For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing.”

Deuteronomy 31:6-8 “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. And Moses called unto Joshua, and said unto him in the sight of all Israel, Be strong and of a good courage: for thou must go with this people unto the land which the LORD hath sworn unto their fathers to give them; and thou shalt cause them to inherit it. And the LORD, he it is that doth go before thee; he will be with thee, he will not fail thee, neither forsake thee: fear not, nether be dismayed.”

Hebrews 13:5-6 “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.”

At the tail end of their grueling forty-year journey in the wilderness, the Lord reminds the Israelites of His ubiquitous presence in Deuteronomy 2:7. God was with them constantly and reliably provided for their needs. They were to be strong and courageous as a result, forsaking fear and dismissing dismay. Regardless of their circumstances, they were to recognize the Lord’s provision, protection, and presence, and cling to His blessings.

In our lives today, we may be facing our own grueling journey in the wilderness. Like He did for the Israelites, the Lord reminds us of His ubiquitous presence. God is with us constantly, and reliably provides for our needs. We are to be strong and courageous as a result, forsaking fear and dismissing dismay. Regardless of our circumstances, we are to recognize the Lord’s provision, protection, and presence, and cling to His blessings.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO RECOGNIZE GOD’S UBIQUITOUS PRESENCE IN OUR LIVES REGARDLESS OF OUR CIRCUMSTANCES. As we look at a recap of even our most challenging times, we should see that God has been with us while blessing the works of our hands and reliably providing for our needs.

Genesis 11:4 “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.”

Psalm 8:3-5 “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

John 10:7-10 “Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. The thief cometh not, but for the steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”

The Basilica of Saint-Denis was completed in 1144 AD in northern Paris. It is a magnificent structure, likely revealing the earliest architecture attributed to the gothic style. Though an amazing building conceived in the minds of man and crafted by human hands, the words inscribed on the door are fitting and informative:

Often, Man has his attention captured by the wonderous creations of his fellow man. We seek to create and build ourselves up to heaven as a pathway for self-glory and self-serving unity. We always fall short.

As the craftsman rightfully registered in the Twelfth Century in Paris, man’s creations should always extend our wonder beyond the craftsman to the Creator; from temporal illumination to the True Light; from the material to the Master; and from submersion to the Sublime!

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO GUARD GOD’S GLORY BY NEVER MARVELING IN THE TEMPORAL CREATION OF MAN. Whenever we are distracted by the creation, let us determine to recognize Christ and the Creator. In this way, our minds will rise to the truth!

ADMIN: The reference for the inscription on the door came from “God & Churchill” by Jonathan Sandys and Wallace Henley.

Psalm 56:11 “In God have I put my trust: I will not be afraid what man can do unto me.”

Psalm 115:9-11 “O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield. Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.”

Psalm 25:1-2 “Unto thee, O LORD, do I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me.”

In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt prompted a bit of controversy when he ordered new coinage to no longer contain the national motto – In God We Trust. It had been since 1865 that federal law required emblazoning that motto on every piece of our currency, signed by President Abraham Lincoln as his last approved bill before his assassination.

Yet, it wasn’t because of a desire to erase history, omit God, or purge the name of the Lord from American culture that Roosevelt did so. In many ways, it was just the opposite. President Roosevelt explained:

“My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good, but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege. …  Any use which tends to cheapen it, and, above all, any use which tends to secure its being treated in a spirit of levity, is from every standpoint profoundly to be regretted. … it seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use on coins …  In all my life I have never heard any human being speak reverently of this motto on the coins or show any signs of its having appealed to any high emotion in him, but I have literally, hundreds of times, heard it used as an occasion of and incitement to … sneering”

President Roosevelt wanted the name of the Lord and reference to our motto to be solemn, serious, and sacred. He didn’t want such a slogan to become sacrilege.

There are many elements of our Christian lives that believers sometimes take for granted. We may become a bit too flippant in our references to the Lord, in our demonstrations of our faith, and in our expressions of our testimonies. In doing so, we may be falling into the trap that concerned Roosevelt by allowing our motto to became meaningless and our slogan to become a sneer. May it never be so.

PLEASE PRAY FOR AMERICAN CHRISTIANS TO MAINTAIN A SPIRIT OF APPROPRIATE REVERENCE IN THE DAILY EXPRESSIONS OF OUR FAITHFULNESS. May we truly demonstrate, through our every word and action, that we genuinely and fully mean it when we say In God We Trust. May we never cheapen it.

Acts 2:22-24 “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.”

Joshua 1:9 “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, nether be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

Today is the annual date on the calendar bracketed by commemoration of the two anniversaries of monumental spiritual and practical significance – the crucifixion of Christ and the resurrection of Christ. The nature of this come-from-behind victory, planned by God from the beginning of creation, is breathtaking and almost impossible to begin to fathom. Yet it happened as the Lord foretold and preordained.

A powerful song that tells of this turnaround is “I Will Arise” – a song that I think about every year on Resurrection Sunday. The following stanza captures the concepts so poignantly:

God is the master of the turn-around, transforming brutal death into glorious life. As we consider that important truth, we must remember that He can do such miracles in our lives as well. In fact, salvation is a depiction of such a come-from-behind victory that should never get old and must never go out of style.

PLEASE PRAY THAT AMERCIAN CHRISTIANS WOULD JOYOUSLY AND WONDROUSLY CELEBRATE THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST AND GOD’S TRANSFORMATIVE POWER IN OUR LIVES.